2011-09-15 - Troika Bank Robbery
It's a bank. And what happens to banks in a world full of metahumans and more? Well, they get torn apart, or held up. And at the moment this one is getting a bit of both. With a rather sudden and explosive entrance, three imposing and dangerous figures have torn into the bank, cowed the patrons and staff, and are in the midst of tearing apart the vault. This particular bank has a very impressive vault, filled with sizeable safety deposit boxes, as well as a substantial cash reserve. And as big as these fellows are, they could very well take it all, leaving nothing for seconds later. There are three figures, as mentioned. The largest of them, towering over ten feet tall and melting the floor to leave molten-soon-cooling footsteps behind, is a massive walking humanoid form of molten metal and stone, a literal slag heap incarnate. Another appears to be a nine-foot tall suit of powered armor, or a robot. The third is only several inches taller than six feet, and is clearly a cyborg. Most disconcerting of all is that while plenty of people have seen their arrival, there have been no alarms, no alerts at all. No 9-1-1 calls have gone through either to report this. Which means there have been no police dispatched yet to come to the aid of those trapped inside. Amongst the patrons, at the moment, is a young woman in jeans and a t-shirt, nothing really exceptional about her but the young woman herself, a mixed-race beauty of exotic features blended together. Right now, she's laying low and playing it safe, while trying to get a bead on any of the tree of them and what they're actually after. She is having only marginal luck. But at least she knows for sure none of them are in fact being 'ridden'. No alerts or alarms of any kind, but it is luck that brings her to this part of the city. In an effort to be seen and heard by the citizens of the New York City, the Sentinels have regular patrol routes. It's the flare-and-cooling footsteps that alert her to something, and she drops down to investigate. And hey, a bank. With he footprints leading to it. She frowns deeply, shaking her head. At least in New York, it's never boring. She turns then, lifting into the air to approach the bank more quickly before landing once more, letting herself step into view from the entrance. It's that shape and face that all of New York knows by now. She's been in the news multiple times over the course of the month, alongside her teammates. The leader of the Sentinels is a common sight around here, after all. It's Ms. Marvel. And she doesn't look happy. No possession is always a good thing. So is being able to run at hypersonic speed. Of course, Jesse is not Impulse...which means she's slower. It also means she's taking the time to actually do some recon. How many patrons (hostages). How strong do these people seem to be. She stays at super speed...not invisible or anything, but distinctly *harder* to see. Let alone catch up with. The telepath, of course, will definitely notice the speedster's presence. And the speedster will notice Ms. Marvel. Drat. Sentinels. Well. She's fairly sure of two things: A. Ms. Marvel would rather beat on bank robbers than her and B. She can outrun her. Probably. Such a large bank branch maintains a large staff, which puts fifteen into the pool of hostages. Add to that almost thirty patrons, and there are quite a few held at heavy blaster point within the bank. The least of them - the cyborg - is still strong enough to punch open a wall. And the greatest of them is tearing open a heavily reinforced vault almost as if it were little more than paper mache. The cyborg glances towards the robot. "HARM, refine scanner details and identify. What was that?" he commands aloud. The large robot turns its head away from the hostages momentarily, as lights flicker about around its head and chest. Then a massive mechanical voice comments, "Displacement suggests hypervelocity humanoid." A beep. "Warning. Known metahuman sighted. Identification: Ms. Marvel." The telepath does indeed notice both of those approaching, at least to some degree. She doesn't think either is being ridden, though she's not as sure about the speedster yet. But she turns her head at just the right moment to see Ms. Marvel quite clearly. Oh boy. That looks like one of those 'Sentinel' types she has heard about. This is about to get interesting. A telepathic voice speaks to both speedster and Sentinel leader at the same time. << There are three. One, the burning one, has torn open the vault. The large one with biggest weapons is covering the hostages. Cellphones and other data are choked off. >> Now, she might work for the government, but Ms. Marvel is very lenient when it comes to this whole 'registration' thing. She has yet to force anyone to do so, and in fact understands the need for some people to work outside the law. << Thank you, >> the Sentinel's leader offers mentally, though she has no idea if this is just a trick or not. Let's not assume that. That line of thought can't get anything good out of it. "I'm giving you folks a warning," she calls into the bank. "Surrender and step out, and this can end peacefully. If I have to come in after you, you're going to regret it. Especially if you think to hurt someone." ...Telepathy. Well. Liberty Belle isn't the kind to startle easily. Her thought in response, though, might be a little fast to be clear. << Tayou >> is about what Voodoo will most likely get. Largest one. Biggest weapons. Maybe if she can get those weapons out of the picture...unfortunately, as she angles inwards, she realizes they're built in. Oops. Okay. Distraction time. She slows down just enough to be more clearly visible then speeds up again, trying to draw his attention away from the hostages. Risky, especially with three of them, but not a BAD plan. "Hypervelocity target confirmed." The massive figure intones, turning towards Liberty Belle's decelerating, more clearly visible form, weapons reorienting as targeting solutions start to plot themselves. But it isn't quite fast enough to manage that, and she is streaking off before it can get a pattern lock and fire. "Target exceeds current targeting capabilities at speed." it responds, still sounding purely robotic. The visible cyborg turns towards Ms. Marvel's voice, and projects back, "Don't think so. No profit in turning tail and surrendering. It's a risk, granted. But time to roll the dice, the payday is worth the challenge." But instead of aiming his own weapons towards Ms. Marvel's opening into the bank, he taps at one forearm of his armored body, and the massive robotic figure turns, all of its many weapons coming to bear on that opening, clearly charging up and preparing to fire. Meanwhile, he turns towards the hostages, reading his weapons to cover what HARM is no longer covering. They work very well as a team. When Liberty Belle slows down, Priss can see her just long enough to be sure that she isn't being 'ridden'. That makes her an assumed help rather than harm, since what little she can sense of those rapid thoughts seems to be bent on helping the hostages. << Get ready. >> she sends, and then closes her eyes, focusing on the cyborg's thoughts and unleashing a blast which disrupts his thoughts and disorients hiim, at least momentarily. or several moments, her eyes shift from dark blue to a true violet shade while this happens. "Your choice. Just remember that." She cracks her knuckles and lifts herself into the air, her eyes never leaving the form of HARM. She's not going to force a firefight in here. Oh no. She has a different idea altogether. In one quick maneuver she shoots forward, proving that she is very fast in the air - though she cannot go full speed, what with civilians down here. Sonic booms can be harmful after all. What she does do, though, is throw herself straight for HARM. If she can, she's going to latch onto the massive robotic being and drag it outside the bank... and then up into the air. She's quite strong herself, second only to Superman amongst the Sentinels, and just as durable. "Let's see what you've got." And let's see how far the cyborg can control this thing remotely. Let's see what you've got indeed. Cyborg guy is controlling the robot. Might be nice if he wasn't controlling the robot any more. Which is why Liberty Belle is now going to attempt to super-speed-punch the guy. Just enough to hopefully knock him out. Of course, it depends on how tough he is...after all, she's trying not to kill him. Ms. Marvel goes for the full-frontal high-speed assault. It's a brave and bold choice, and entirely within her rights. But it's not going to be as easy as she might like. HARM was ready to fire, preparing to fire, already. She charges, streaking ahead at high speed in flight ... right into the teeth of that oncoming firestorm. Heavy energy canons - the sort nearly equal to battleship deck guns - and heavy caliber slug weapons erupt, and she is in the middle of it all, hit by entirely too much of it. Half the slugs explode on impact, small impact grenades. The others are hot sabot rounds. It is unlikely the Sentinel heroine reaches HARM, at least not before getting herself blasted back out that hole. By comparison, it's just not Attica's day. The cyborg is concentrating almost as much on amping up HARM's sensor arrays and resolution as he is on paying attention to the hostages. And that doesn't leave much left to notice the onrushing air of Liberty Belle's approach. The punch by itself might not have done much, given his cybernetic nature and armored form. But both Attica and Liberty Belle are in the clear path of Voodoo's telepathic blast, both minds subjected to staggering synaptic shock. Whatever the effect to the suddenly-there speedster, the cyborg wobbles, sparks flying from some of the cranial contacts. And then starts to fall. There are days when Ms. Marvel wishes that would-be villains would play by some sort of rulebook. You know, like not mounting the firepower of a battleship to a mobile, vaguely humanoid platform. She might not be physically damaged - her body absorbs all sorts of energy and radiation - but the force can still affect her, throwing her right out of the bank. Okay. Full frontal is not going to work. She opts instead for something a little more tactical this time: zipping from side to side, hoping her speed can keep her out of the weapon's sensors so she can get close enough to slug it. If any other speedster got hit with a blast like that, they'd likely lose their attunement to the Speed Force and drop to normal speed. Liberty Belle...works differently. Her concentration shot too much to keep running *and* too much to recall the mantra she needs to speak to slow back down...she slips, skids across the floor and ends up in a heap by the wall...except she's still at full speed. Fortunately, it's an ordinary wall...or unfortunately. Depends on how you define it, because...she just vanished THROUGH it. Oops. Without Attica to help it focus on the fast-moving target, HARM tries desperately to draw a bead on Ms. Marvel again, and fails. So instead, it blasts where she /was/ just a second ago. Repeatedly. Which tears the bank to shreds in a hurry, to the point that structural integrity is now at risk of failing entirely. But it also means Ms. Marvel can indeed reach the ton-and-a-half robot. Slugging it will be of only moderate use, as it is so well armored that punches resound forcefully, dent and scratch ... and do little else, even at her tremendous power level. But it's her shot to hoist it up and drag it out of here, if that is still what she wants to do. Punched at super-speed, brain dazzled by the synaptic static of Voodooo's secret telepathic blast, Attica falls to the ground. He'll recover, but for the moment he's just a lump of twitching biological and mechanical bits. And the civilians are panicing, ready to flee without any guidance whatsoever. Amongst those civilians, the secret telepath reaches out and touches their minds, pushing just a simple thought of direction and cautious flight to guide their natural instincts, and then she follows along as they all go running for the entrance furtherest away from Ms. Marvel's massive hole and growing chaos, hoping to escape to safety. Liberty Belle goes phasing through the wall she hit, which would be the screening wall that keeps anyone from seeing or walking right towards the entrance to the vault. Which means she is now skidding with her momentum towards the slagged opening of the vault, and quite possibly into it, as the massive, bubbling and smoking form of Slag is lurching out from the vault following the sounds of battle. That's more than a little disconcerting, really. That someone has such easy access to materials she can't punch through that they'd waste some on a weapons platform like HARM. Very disconcerting indeed. But this close, she might as well grab onto it and haul it out. Easy way to get rid of this thing? One way trip to the Atlantic, and hope water shorts it out. If she has to call in more help, she will. She pointedly goes out the entrance to avoid doing more damage to the bank, and pushes herself hard and as fast as she can, knowing she might not have much time before the building collapses. Fortunately...she also recovers at super speed, ending up facing...okay. This guy's nasty. And the building is about to collapse. How, exactly, does she get him to take it outside? She slows down a little for a moment. "Hey!" Then she streaks for the back door. Moderating her speed so he can see her to chase her...and might *even* think he stands a prayer. Of course, she's ready to speed right back up again if he starts throwing a ranged attack her way. HARM thrashes, trying to brush of Ms. Marvel and free itself from her grasp, but while it is heavily resistant to damage, and delivers the force of a battle cruiser in a self-portable small format, something had to give: it doesn't have the servos and sheer physical power to knock the Sentinels leader away. She'll probably feel the attempts, but they won't yield much more than mild annoyance. And at such close range, it cannot get much of a targeting solution with any of its heavier weaponry. It tries electrifying its hull, but she'll probably absorb that. It tries defensive blades, but they're unlikely to do serious damage, just cuts and scrapes to further annoy her. In the end, it ends up in the drink, which isn't far given they're in Manhattan. Who knows what happens after that? Slag ... slows down and turns, upon seeing the costumed form of Liberty Belle now moving at almost normal speed. With a grating growl of anger, Slag heads after the woman, apparently distracted enough not to wonder how she got past his companions. He'll go right through walls and barriers to follow her. << Duck >> comes a suggestion. A few moments later, and a surge of energy Liberty Belle would now recognize instinctively flows right past the heroine and hits Slag, causing the advancing figure to wobble and weave. Ms. Marvel has to struggle to keep HARM in her grasp. It's not so much that it all hurts, but it's one irritation after another, much less to deal with than those big bad energy bursts. Still, they are annoying to deal with. She then uses her comm unit to try to get through to the other Sentinels. She knows someone is listening, but cannot recall who had command center duty today. Regardless, she speaks into the comm, advising them of HARM's location. With any luck, they can retrieve the robotic weapons platform. If not... well. They'll have to put the word out. With that dealt with, she turns back towards the bank, flying back down to ground level quickly. Liberty Belle is not about to get hit again. She ducks and rolls at super speed. Ah, good. He's weaving. A well-placed hit at super speed might well knock him all the way over and even out, and at her speed, she can do it without being burned. Pow!